Yet Another Cinderella Story
by LiterateChick
Summary: I know it's been done, I know it gets lame, and I know you've probably read a million of them, but let's face it, Cinderella stories are fun to write. And I promise that as far as I know, you've never heard this one before!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know you're all groaning and rolling your eyes, but this is indeed one more Cinderella story to add to the hundreds that have already been thought up. I hope this one is unique, but you never know with Cinderella stories what has been done and what hasn't. Oh, and I'm gonna try my hardest to keep the romance fluff and junk to a minimum. **

_Chapter 1:_

I woke up that day and adorned my regular cloths, a dress that used to be white, a black apron, and slippers as dirty as the floors. And I should know how dirty the floors are. After all, I wash them. Welcome, to yet another Cinderella story.

First, let's get something straight. My name's not Cinderella. Heck, it's not even Ella. No, my name is Floor Girl. Well, that's my name to anyone who ranks above me, which is most everyone in the house I work in besides the cats and a few other servants. The only other person who calls me by my true name would be my father.

Oh wait, he's dead.

Maybe I should give you a brief history of me. First, about my parents. You would be hard pressed to find a woman who was more loving, caring or gentler then my mother.

At least, that's what I always thought. Once when I asked my father about her, all he said was that she had been one of the queen's ladies, that she and him had an arranged marriage, and that when I was born she died in childbirth. I had seen a picture of her once; she had fair hair and green eyes. I had her eyes, but my hair was dark, unlike my mothers. Her mother and my father's mother were great friends, and they were always convinced that when they both had children, they would be married. Imagine their pleasure when that dream came true.

Imagine my misfortune. My father was a lord of something. He didn't care for me, or my mother. He had stern grey eyes and dark hair like mine. When she died he was left with me. So he hired a nanny, a horrible, fat woman with greasy blonde hair, eyes the colour of puke, and who did nothing all day but eat and sleep and shout at me to be quiet while she read horrible cheesy romance books. I didn't even have any friends. Eventually my nanny died, something to do with her heart. So my father was stuck with me again.

Not long after that he met Victoria, the woman who would soon be my stepmother. She had long black hair and blue eyes, and she batted her black-painted eyelashes hard and quick, making them look like they were about to fly off. I remember meeting her and her two horrid girls for the first time. I was seven, my father invited them to our large house and when they got there, he told me to take them up to my room to play, "while their mother and I get better acquainted."

So, I took Cindy and Ella (no doubt where the bard who wrote my story got my 'name' from) up to my room. It was full of toys and dolls and brushes, but the only thing that wasn't covered in a thin layer of dust was the bookshelf. Cindy was a little younger then me, her thin blonde hair was done up in a loose ponytail and she had inherited her mothers blue eyes. Ella was a little older then me, had her mothers black hair, and brown eyes to match. So while Cindy and Ella contented themselves to tearing my dolls cloths and chopping off their hair, I sat on my bed and watched them. That was when Ella reached for Caroline.

Caroline was a porcelain doll that used to be my mothers, and even though I never actually played with her, she was the only thing that I had of my mothers. She had skin the colour of milk, very red lips, blonde hair and blue eyes. I wouldn't let Ella desecrate her.

"Hey," I said, "that's mine."

Ella turned and looked at me, her hand halfway to Caroline's place on my bookshelf. "Oh, well can I play with it?" she asked sweetly. I didn't fall for it.

"Sorry, but it used to be my mothers, and I don't want anything to happen to it."

"So I can't even play with it for a little?" Ella gave me a pathetic look, like she was going to burst into tears any second. I shook my head, and her look hardened. "Fine then, I didn't want to play with that stupid thing anyway."

Two years later, my father married Victoria, and I was stuck with two unbearable stepsisters. But the worst was yet to come. In the time being, I had to put up with Ella and Cindy, but even more horrible then them were Victoria and my father. I overheard them talking about me all the time, saying awful things.

"I don't like her." I once heard Victoria say, "She's a positively dreadful girl, not like my two beauties."

"Why do you hate her so?" My father asked, though I could tell by his voice the only reason he didn't agree with her completely was because I was his daughter, however little that meant to him.

"She is just not like any other little girls I know." Victoria shivered in disgust as she said, "I mean, she _talks, _to her _servants! _That is just totally unacceptable. And she reads those horrid books! I don't think I've ever seen her play with a doll like a normal girl. She isn't even interested in getting married!" That was at least true, even when I was nine and ten I had no intention of getting married and having kids. Why would I want to, when there was so much world to discover?

But I only had to endure overhearing conversations like that for five years, because when I was fourteen my father died in his sleep. After a funeral where my stepmother got overly weepy just for show, Victoria did something she had wanted to do ever since she and my father got married; she demoted me from daughter to servant. And here I was now, two years later, getting up at the crack of dawn to scrub floors.

"Hey, Danielle," Arica, one of my best friends, popped her black-haired head through the curtain that blocked my sleeping area off from the rest of the servants quarters. Victoria insisted on putting them up, saying that as I was a 'lords daughter,' I needed some level of privacy. "the ogress wants you to, 'scrub the dining room floor till it shines!'" Arica could do a perfect impression of Victoria, or 'the ogress' as she put it. It always got me laughing.

As I stepped out of the overly crowded servant's quarters, I was struck by the fact that there were so little people in the basement hallway, only one small boy who was getting things from the supply closet. "Where is everyone?" I asked.

Arica shrugged, "Oh, they're all upstairs. Apparently the ogress is having a special supper tonight with a bunch of dignitaries, and she's having everyone work overtime." That was when Arica's brother and my other best friend, Karter, came rushing down the basement stairs.

Karter had black hair like his sister, and like his sister, his skin was darker then anyone else I'd ever known, although, while Arica's skin was nearly black, his was more of a brown. Their eyes were so brown, they were almost black. They came from the south, and though they never told me about where they came from, I had heard stories about animals like horses with black and white stripes, and brown and yellow patchy ones with long necks.

"Oh, Danielle, you're up." Karter panted, "Good. Victoria is shouting up a storm upstairs. I think she wants you to scrub every floor in the house!" He meant it good humouredly, but I just grunted. It had happened before.

"Well, I had better get up there then." I said, and started up the stairs.

"Floor Girl," Victoria shrieked, "you had better scrub the dining room floor till I can see my face in it!" Then she stopped off in her shiny black high-heeled boots. Even though she had grown older as sure as I did, she had hired a magician to make her look younger. But I thought that this 'magician' was certainly a fake, for she only looked younger then she was, because of the dollops and globs of makeup she wore, making her look more like an iced cake then a girl only a little older then me.

"Yes, mistress ogre." I muttered when she was put of hearing range.

The dining room was huge and white, and it would take me most of the day to clean it. I went downstairs into the supply closet, and grabbed a bucket, soap and a scrubby brush. This was going to be a long day…


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well, here's chapter two, and still no romantic fluff! I'm on the right track! Please Review, it'll make me happy, and when I'm happy I write more.**

_Chapter 2:_

Well, there is one benefit to spending all day cleaning the floors… Er, scratch that, there are _no _benefits to spending all day cleaning the floors.

I was kneeling on the hard, white floor, my hair held back with a white kerchief, scrubbing the tiles with all my might. And still, an hour later, I had only done a few square feet at the very back of the room. This was going to be a looooong day.

"Hey, Danie." Arica said as she came into the room, holding a huge white tablecloth. "The ogress wants you to scrub harder."

"She hasn't even been in here!" I exclaimed, sitting up on my feet and wiping sweat out of my eyes.

"I know, but apparently she knows how hard you've been scrubbing, and wants you to scrub harder." As Arica threw the tablecloth onto the wooden table, I got down on my knees and started scrubbing again, grumbling to myself.

"Are you trying to make me feel worse about today?" I demanded. Arica grinned at me.

"Is it working?" She asked, looking up from her task of smoothing out the wrinkles in the tablecloth. I glared, and she dropped her cheery attitude. "I know," she muttered, "this is horrible. If I'm condemned to being a servant, can't I at least get a mistress who isn't a relation to Jacks giant?" I muttered an agreement.

"Well aren't you two the optimistic souls." A voice said from the doorway. Arica and me looked over to see Ella come in, a smug look on her overly painted face. She hadn't changed in appearance much, other then her chest filling out. I secretly thought she stuffed her corset.

"Look, little mistress," Arica said in her best fake sweet voice, "if you _ever_ call me an optimist again, you might discover spiders in your bed sheets again." Arica grinned and practically skipped out of the room, leaving me with Ella.

"I knew it was her." Ella muttered under her breath. I chuckled quietly. It _had_ been Arica's idea to put spiders in Ella's bed sheets, but it had been Karter's friend Theo who had executed the thing. No matter how much the 'little mistress' thought it was Arica, there was no evidence of the matter.

"Now," Ella started condescendingly. I pretended to not hear her, but unfortunately, she wasn't as dumb as her sister, "as you know, my mother has invited a few people over for supper. And I expect there will be quite a few handsome young men there, as mother is trying to find a bachelor eligible enough to marry me." As Ella stood there, looking awful proud of herself, I secretly rolled my eyes and kept scrubbing. It was Ella's soul purpose in life to get married.

"But, devastatingly, I have just run out of my favorite perfume. So what I need you to do is go into town and buy it for me, as I expect I shall be too busy to do it myself. I need to pick out a dress, and put on my face and everything myself, as my last maid quit." I snorted. Ella had fired her last maid when she accidentally put too much of that red powder on her cheeks. I could never remember what it was called. Rouge or something.

"Well?" I looked up. Ella was glaring down at me. "Aren't you going to go?"

"I don't have much choice, do I?" I sighed.

"No, you don't." Ella smirked at me, then clipped off. Her high heels didn't make as big of a sound as the ogress' boots, but it was still slightly menacing.

I got up, realizing Ella hadn't given me any money. I scowled, and wiped my rubbed raw hands on my black apron to get the soapy water off.

As I came out of the dining room, Cindy came round the corner and stood in front of me, hands on her hips, glaring.

"I heard you talking." She said, "I heard you and Ella talking, I did. And I want you to get me some of that perfume to. And if you don't, I'll—I'll tell my mother!" I saw an opportunity.

"Well of course I _would _get you some perfume, Cindy. But Ella gave me some money, and you didn't. So I don't know if I'll be able to afford your perfume."

Cindy's expression fell. "Oh."

"But," I said excitedly, "what if you give me some of your money!"

Cindy's face brightened. "Really? I could do that?" I nodded, and Cindy smiled. It was a horrible thing to see, Cindy grinning. She despised her tooth cloth with her life, so her teeth were a yellow-ish green, and she got her lipstick on her teeth constantly. Her grin was little more then a grimace, like she was in pain.

She rushed up to her bedroom, and came down with a satchel of money. "How much do I need to give you?" One of the maids, Carol, all she wanted was to be just like Ella. I felt sorry for her, she had red rough hands like mine and her face was covered with spots. All night she would talk to her friend Jessica, and they would talk about Ella, what Ella was wearing that day, how her makeup was done, and always, always her perfume. That was Carol's favorite subject. Me, Arica and Karter, who all had sleeping mats beside each other, wouldn't pay much attention to them, it was just annoying really. But if you've been listening to that since you were fourteen, some of that information sticks in your head. Because of her I knew that Ella's perfume cost five pounds, that it was the one with whale puke, and that the cheapest perfume in the store, the only one Carol could afford, cost fifty pence.

"I need six dollars." I told Cindy, "Six dollars for your perfume."

"That's, that's quite allot, isn't it?" Cindy looked confused, like she was trying to think.

"It is quite a good perfume." I reminded her. She nodded, and handed over her six pounds. "Thank you, Lady Cindy." I said, putting the coins in my pocket. "I'll be going now."

I went down into the servant's quarters and got my shawl. It was a burgundy red colour, and the only thing I had that wasn't black or white. I loved that colour, it was my favorite. I had bought the shawl with my saved-up money.

When I was going out the door, the mistress came down the hall. I thought she was going to ridicule me for going out when I was supposed to be scrubbing floors, but all she did was smile in that annoying was she had, and kept going. And I went out the door, and into the cold morning air.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, this would have been up here like three days ago, but my computer was having issues with FanFiction. But here it is now. Oh, and this chapter is kinda short, but I found the perfect place to leave off and I just _had _to take it. Please don't kill me...**

_Chapter 3_

I pulled my shawl closer around me, it really was cold. There was quite a walk from the mansion to the town, so I ran most of the way. When I got there I was panting and my throat was burning, but I definitely warmer.

I started looking around for the closest gourmet perfume store, but instead saw a bunch of older boys coming down the street. I knew that in the town, you had to be careful. You didn't want to mess with the wrong people. So I took a path down a back lane.

This is where the trouble starts.

The light in the lane was dim, and I didn't see the old woman till I was right in front of her. By that time it was to late, she had seen me. She was wearing a brightly coloured dress, and her dark hair was tied up with a blue rag and her feet were bare. From this I guessed she was a gypsy.

"Hello, dearie," Her voice quavered with age, and she looked old enough to be a great grandmother to the mistress, "do you mind if I read your palm?" I didn't trust her, but had lost my tongue at the sudden meeting, and she grabbed my hand in an iron grip, forced it up, and un-clenched my fingers. I was happy I had put the coins into my apron pocket.

"Oh," the old woman seemed very interested in my palm, "I see you work for a very merciless master."

"You can tell just by the lines on my palm?" I asked suspiciously. My tongue had finally come back.

"Oh no my dear," the old woman chuckled, "but your hand is a brighter red and rougher then any I've seen in a long time." I nodded. That sounded right. "Now, for your palm," she continued, "your life line is long, you might live to on hundred, if something doesn't kill you first." I started at that, but she didn't seem to notice. "You seem to come from a wealthy family, but you don't have much money." I wondered how much she was getting from my palm, and how much she was getting from my clothes. "You're not one of those romantic types, are you?" I shook my head. The woman nodded. "I thought not. It says right here." She pointed at my hand, but I couldn't see anything. "You know, you do have a very interesting palm. Do you mind if I read you're tea leaves?" I shook my head, and she let go of my wrist.

I really should have been going, but I was interested in what was so interesting about me that she was about to read my tea leaves. Suddenly I thought of something.

"I don't have any money." I said. The woman chuckled again.

"Oh yes you do dearie, but I know what you mean." She said, turning away from me. "It's not your money to spend." I nodded. I couldn't remember having a conversation where I had talked so little. "Don't worry dear, this won't cost you a thing, only your cooperation." She turned back towards me, and I noticed she was holding two bowl-shaped handle-less cups, full of steaming tea. I wondered where the woman got them.

"Now," she said, handing me the cup. I took it with both hands, trying to warm my cold fingers, "drink most of your tea, but not all of it. Leave the leaves at the bottom for me to read." I nodded and obeyed. The tea had a strong herbal flavor, and I welcomed the heat that seeped through my body. Then I handed the cup to the woman.

"I see," she muttered, turning the cup to look at it from all angles, "oh dear, this is not a very happy cup. It says here that you will meet with a stranger, no, many strangers that wish you no good, but don't necessarily mean you harm ether." I wondered what she meant by that. "And here, it says something about a friend in great peril, dose that make sense?" I shook my head, starting to get worried. "Oh, and here, a seemingly great day, but maybe not so great for you, although you accomplish something good." This wasn't making any sense, and I was getting more and more confused with every prediction she made. Then she turned the cup fully around, and gasped. "This, this can't be true…" she said more to herself then me.

"What can't be true?" I asked, dreading more bad news.

"It says here, right here," she looked up at me before continuing, "that you shall be married to royalty."

I was silent for a few seconds, then shook my head. "No, you must be mistaken." I said simply, "That would never happen." The woman just looked at me and said nothing, in shock. I shook my head again. "That would never happen." I repeated.

"I must be going." I told the woman, "I have been ordered to get something for my mistresses daughters." I walked off then, leaving the old woman in the ally, staring at my back.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

Soon after my encounter with the fortune telling gypsy, I found myself walking through the door into a smelly store, where every single inch of wall space, and quite a bit of floor space, was covered in glass shelves. And what was on those shelves? Expensive glass bottles.

It was a klutz's nightmare. And unfortunately, I tend to be a bit of a klutz.

"Can I help you?" Asked a lady in a simple purple dress. She, like me, was wearing an apron, but unlike my apron hers was a milky white, possibly made of silk or some other expensive material. She looked at me like she would rather be helping a pig.

"I'm looking for a very specific kind of perfume." I said, trying to make it sound like I belonged in that store of glass.

"Are you sure you're in the right place?" The attendant asked with distaste, looking me over and paying special attention to my worn shawl, my filthy clothes, and my unwashed hair still held back with a rag. I nodded.

"I'm looking for the perfume with whale barf in it." I said, trying to speak as disdainfully as the attendant, but you try that while discussing whale barf perfume!

She looked confused for a moment, and then a light came on in her head. "Right, well it's just this way." She said, and showed me to a shelf covered in tiny, golden bottles.

"This is our finest perfume, made from only the best…"

"Yeah okay, but how much is it?" The attendant looked appalled that I cut her off, and even more disgusted by my question.

"It's five pounds." She said slowly. I nodded.

"Great. I'll take one of those. Now can I see your cheapest perfume?" The attendant looked at me like I had three heads, then showed me to a shelf by the back of the shop, marked 'One pound and under!' In big black letters. There was also a sloppily done drawing of a pound coin and an arrow pointing down.

I looked for the cheapest perfume I could find, and found one for only 50 pence. I took that one to.

Once I was out of that shop, smelling the crisp, morning, non-perfumed air, I felt much more comfortable. Despite the ominous predictions the gypsy had given me, and the fact that I had to run all the way back to the mansion, when I came through the servants door in the kitchen, I was feeling the same I did when I had woken up that morning, before Arica had told me I was to spend all day scrubbing floors. Not happy, exactly, more like content.

"Hello, Danielle!" Jessica, the cooks' hand said cheerfully as I came through the door. "Where have you been?"

"I had to buy something for Ella." I explained, holding up the paper bag, in which the two bottles were thickly wrapped in paper so they wouldn't bang up against each other and break.

"Oh, I wish she had asked me!" Jessica said wistfully. I grunted. Jessica was one of the girls who obsessed over everything Ella did, as I mentioned earlier.

"Yes, well, I have to get this to Ella as soon as I can, or else she'll flip on me…" But Jessica wasn't listening. She was staring into space, no doubt thinking of what it would be like to have people go and buy you things. I sighed. She was a lost cause.

I walked down two hallways, up a flight of stairs, and got lost. Not that I didn't know where everything was in the house, it was my childhood home, but I didn't know where Ella would be. I asked a passing maid.

"She's in her room." The maid said, pointing in the direction of my old room. I started on my way.

The first thing Ella did when I was demoted to servant was take my room for herself. All my books were soon sold to a second hand shop, and she repainted everything. Now, instead of the soft brown and dark red and purple, it was a hideous shade of green with pink highlights. I could hardly believe Ella slept in there; the garish colours would have kept me awake all night.

I had reached Ella's room, and knocked on the wooden door. "Just a second!" Ella called through the walls.

The door on the other side of the hall opened, and Cindy poked her head through. "Did you get my perfume?" Cindy asked eagerly

"Yup." I made sure to speak quietly; I didn't want Ella to hear. "Here it is." I handed Cindy the bottle of cheap perfume. She gazed at the glass bottle like she'd never seen one before, then slammed her door in my face. I started, but wasn't surprised by her rudeness. I turned just as Ella opened her door.

"What, Floor Girl?" She asked cruelly. Her face was covered in some dark green paste, who knows what for. Something to do with looking more youthful, probably.

"I got your perfume, Ella." I said, taking the gold bottle out of the bag. She snatched it out of my hand and peered into it, making sure I had gotten the right one.

"Good," she muttered, "this one…" She put the bottle on the vanity table and said, "Surprisingly, you got me the right one. I suppose I can't tell mummy to punish you for that, but how did you afford such a thing?" She smirked, waiting for an explanation. I gave her one she would be most happy to hear.

"I had been saving up for some books," I said woefully, "but when you told me to buy you your perfume, I knew I couldn't refuse." I knew Cindy would never tell Ella different; the younger sibling envied Ella too much to tell her anything. Ella just smirked.

"You know, Floor Girl, I'm glad you're here." I was surprised, and suspicious at the same time. Ella was _never _happy to see me. "I needed someone to help my with my necklace." With that she led me into her room. I took this as an opportunity to comment on her face.

"Um, Ella, is it just me or did you get seasick sitting in your chair?"

"What _are_ you talking about?" Ella asked tossing her black hair over her shoulder.

"Your face," I exclaimed, "it looks like you mashed up some grass and smeared it over yourself!" Ella just glared at me.

"I'll have you know that this is an herbal mask, it has many uses, including making my skin incredibly soft and shiny. It's the newest technology."

I wanted to tell her that for best results she should leave it on through the entire supper, but thought she might get _really_ mad at that. Instead I said, "So, what necklace do you need help with?"

"This one." Ella stood in the middle of her floor, holding up a silver pendant necklace in the shape of a star, the one that Caroline always wore.

Wait, did I tell you that the first thing Ella did when I was demoted was take my room? Well I was mistaken. The first thing Ella did was take Caroline, the porcelain doll my mom left me. Caroline's necklace was my mothers; she would wear it to special occasions, but I never wore it. It was much too precious. And here Ella was, wearing it and smirking at me. I hated her, but swallowed my emotions. I was a servant; I wasn't aloud to have feelings.

I silently did the silver clasp and escaped from the room, and retrieved my bucket of water and my brush. I had to finish the dining room.

About three hours later, half of the rooms white tiles were clean, and I was utterly exhausted. I had tied scraps of cloth to my knees when they started bleeding, and though that had helped little, I was considering doing the same to my hands. They were raw and red like always, but they were defiantly hurting more then usual. I was stating to really despise all floors.

"How's it going?" A voice asked behind me. I shifted my weight (not very much, you can't get fat on servants rations) off my knees to my feet, and looked around. Karter was standing there with a fresh bucket and a sympathetic look.

"Horrible." I muttered.

"Well, Cook told me to give you some clean water, so here." He put the new bucket down, and took my old one.

"Thanks." I muttered, dunking my brush in the new water. It was warm, and soothed my hands. I expected him to take my bucket and leave. People had been coming and going all day, they were all to busy to stay. But Karter just put the old bucket down, and sat on the floor. I was thankful for the company.

"So, have you been doing this all day?" He asked. I shook my head.

"No, Ella gave me an errand." I said, "Nothing out of the ordinary. What have you been doing?"

"Not much. Just running around, fetching things and that sort of stuff." I grunted.

"So, do you have any idea who's coming to this party?" I asked. Karter shook his head.

"Why do you care?" He asked.

"I don't really, just wondering." I said simply. "Hey, Ella is all exited for tonight; she says the ogress is throwing this thing to find her a husband." I snorted, "Funny how much she cares about something as idiotic as getting married."

Karter said nothing. I turned around, and caught him just staring at the back of my head.

"What?" I asked slowly.

"Nothing." He said, awkwardly shaking his head. "You know, I think I should be going. I'll see you." He took my old bucket of water and left quickly. I stared after him, wondering what had happened to make him leave so fast. Suddenly a thought, unbidden and not wanted very much, popped into my head. Was it possible that Karter… No, that was just stupid. I got back to my scrubbing, trying not to think about what had just occurred.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**A/N: Whoa, did I just write some suggestive romantic stuff? Scary. Anyway, I'm going on a vacation Friday, so don't expect a lot of updates for about a week... I'm sorry, but it can't be helped. I'm a ****disappointed**** as you are, unless you're not disappointed in the least... And if I come home to a whole lot of reviews, that'll make me want to write more! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

If you didn't count Karter's visit to the dining room, nothing interesting happened to me while cleaning. The day was so mundane; by the end of it I was sure that his odd look had just been my imagination. My brain worked in odd ways sometimes, so it wasn't outside the realm of possibility. Or maybe I was just telling myself that.

"You're thinking too much about it." I muttered to myself as I stepped carefully down the dangerous stone stairs. In one hand I held my empty bucket, the bloody rags I had tied around my knees and hands balled up inside it. In the other hand, I held my scrub brush.

"Thinking too much about what?" A voice behind me asked. Arica was just behind me, most likely running and fetching for someone. That was the bulk of her work.

"I can't think about it, that's the point." I said. Arica gave me a look that clearly asked what on earth could be so secret I couldn't even tell her. I gave her a look that meant it was so inconceivably dumb, she didn't _want _to know. She was used to that.

"So, you got anything else you have to do today?" She asked. I shrugged.

"Haven't been given orders yet, but no doubt they'll figure something put for me to do."

The ogress's dinner party would be arriving soon, and there would likely be nothing for me to do besides something as dull as rearranging Ella's closet in order of colour, style, and a thousand other things. So I would remain out of sight till the dinner started, then eavesdrop on the throng. Arica and I had found the perfect place to do so, and I was looking forward to visiting it tonight. I put my supplies in the closet, and took the rags out of the bucket. I had to get them to laundry before the ogress saw me with them, and yelled at me for wasting good rags. I know from experience.

Turning from the closet, I continued down the hall to the laundry room. The one small window close to the roof revealed an afternoon sky. The guests would arrive any second, so, after dropping my bloody rags off with a sympathetic looking laundry maid, I started on my way upstairs.

There was a small unused room off the dining room, which was where Arica, Karter and I went to overhear the dinner conversation. That was where I was headed.

I passed the front entrance, and could hear a conversation behind the closed door.

"Why hello, Miss Edmond!" Ella was saying in a fakely sweet voice. I silently pretended to puke.

I turned down the hallway that passed by the back of the dining hall, the one that was only used by us servants. As I approached the dining hall, I couldn't hear anything, meaning that the group of gossiping ladies and idiotic lords hoping to court Ella was still in the sitting room. I continued down the unpainted drafty hall, and soon came upon a thin wooden door. I opened it as silently as I could, and slipped into the darkened room.

"Arica, are you here?" I whispered.

"Yup." She whispered back. "But Karter's not, and he's the one with the lamp, so we're stuck in the dark till he gets here." I groaned. The room was small enough, when it was dark it was unbearable.

We waited for about a minute, then the door slowly swung open.

"Arica, Danie, you here?"

"Yes." We answered Karter simultaneously. He closed the door, and lit a lamp, illuminating the splinter-educing room.

It was a simple, thin, rectangular room, only distinguishable because of its wooden walls. I didn't know the idiot who designed the wood room, or indeed what its intended use was. To me, it seemed pointless. Unless you were three approximately-sixteen-year-old servants, (we weren't sure how old Arica and Karter were, though we guessed around my age) with nothing better to do but listen in on there mistresses dinner parties. The small hole in the wall that was hidden from the dinning hall by a tapestry meant it was perfect for that purpose only.

"Are they in the room yet?" I asked. I was getting bored of sitting and waiting.

"I think they're on the way, but I can't be sure. You know what those ladies are like." In the back of my mind, I noticed that Karter wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Unfortunately, I do know what those ladies are like." Arica muttered. I had to agree.

After a few silent moments, there was a sound from the other side of the wall, the sound of a door opening and a dozen high-heel adorned ladies being ushered through the doorway by half a dozen uniform-clad men.

Once the fluttery sounds of the lords and ladies finding their seats and getting served were replaced by the sounds of them eating in that much too courteous way, the conversation got louder.

"What were you saying, Lady Miriam?" That was the Mistress, sounding uncharacteristically polite.

"Oh, I was telling you all about the king's newest guests, wasn't I?" Said a voice I recognized as one of the ogress' more common guests. She was one of the queens ladies, and was forever gossiping about what was going on in the castle.

"Yes, you were." That was Ella, sounding like she had just swallowed a cup of that spice, sugar.

"Well, just last week he and his party showed up, quite unexpectedly, and asked for bed and board. Well, the king couldn't just turn them away, not when they proved themselves to be nobles from some land, I wouldn't know which. But you should see the clothes they wear! All black robes and black cloths around their heads. And their faces are just as black! They don't talk to anyone in the palace, just stay shut up in their rooms, doing who knows what. I don't like them, no one in the court dose. The king is planning to invite them to a supper to find out their business in this country, although there are some doubts they will tell him. And anyway, they're going to interfere with the ball coming up."

"A ball?!" That was Cindy, I could hear her slamming down her cutlery.

"Didn't I tell you about that?" Lady Miriam asked, sounding shocked with herself. Apparently she didn't need an answer to keep talking. "Well, it's just the biggest ball in a century! They've been planning for months! The invitations went out yesterday, I suppose they haven't reached their destinations yet, but you'll get them soon. Every girl in the city has been invited! The prince is supposed to pick his future wife."

I could hear Ella gasp. Before the mention of the prince's ball, I could hear her giggling in a girlish way that made me want to throw up. She had obviously been flirting with some young idiot, but now all her attention was on Lady Miriam.

"Prince Alexander is looking for a wife?" She asked. I could almost see her shaking with excitement.

"Oh yes. His parents have been bothering him for nearly two years to find himself a girl, but he was completely indifferent to all the nice ladies they showed him. So they decided to have this ball, though I don't know what will happen if the prince _doesn't _find a wife. They might disinherit him!" There was a collective gasp around the table.

"Oh I doubt that." Someone muttered. "So, who's all invited to this thing?"

"All eligible girls of good birth. It's going to be declared against the law for any girls of high birth to _not _come. The palace is going to be absolutely stuffed full of girls clamoring to get a chance to dance with the prince!"

"Oh, mother we absolutely must go!" Ella said, "And I have nothing suitable to wear!"

"Are we really going to see the prince, mother?" That was Cindy, sounding dumbstruck.

"Well of course, unless you want to be hanged for treason!" Lady Miriam declared. There was another collective gasp.

"Well I won't see my daughters hanged." The ogress said. "When is this ball?"

"You'll be getting your invitations soon enough, like I said, they sent them yesterday."

"I'll be waiting." Ella muttered.

"Well, is this all we're going to talk about, the prince's ball?" Asked a guest. I thought his voice was slightly familiar, like someone who would be courting Ella.

"Oh, did I tell you about my sisters new beaux?" Someone said. That was the talk for another half hour. Then the talk went to something else, and they gossiped until the meal was over and they had moved back into the sitting room. Karter, Arica and I hurried out of the room and back to the servant's quarters. Most of the servants there already, and there was much grumbling while we made our way to our sleeping mats.

"You here that about the kings guests?" Arica asked when we were all lying on out mats. I had pulled back my curtains and tacked them to the wall so we could see each other. Arica slept beside me, Karter beside her.

"Yeah, that was strange." Karter said thoughtfully.

"And that ball is going to mean we're going to be run off our feet fetching things and doing hair and stuff." Arica muttered. Karter nodded. I stayed silent.

"What are you thinking, Danie?" Arica asked. She knew me to well to think I just had nothing to say. She knew I was thinking something.

"It's probably nothing, but…"

"But what?" That was Karter.

"Well, that woman, Lady Miriam, she said all daughters of high birth must attend this stupid ball, or be hanged. No doubt she was exaggerating, but there will still be a penalty to all who don't come."

"Yeah, so?" Arica said, "It's not like that applies to us."

"Not to us," Karter told his sister, "but it dose to Danie."

"Oh…" Arica muttered.

"Yup." I sighed. Sometimes it really sucks to be the daughter of a lord.

* * *

**_A/N: Hello, again! Hope you liked this chapter. If you did, leave a review and tell me. If you didn't, leave a review and tell me. Basically _**_**what I'm saying is if you read this at all, a review would greatly be appreciated. Oh, and guess what, I finally have something of a plot! ^-^**_


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6_

The next morning, I woke early like always and was put to work right away, in the backyard, scrubbing the stone patio. I made sure I had enough rags.

About half an hour into my scrubbing, Arica came out with a bucket of water. There was a flower garden at one end of the yard, and it was Arica's job to take care of it. She had a way with plants.

"So," she said as she knelt to start weeding the enormous plot of flowers, "anything on that huge ball the prince is having?"

I shook my head. "Nope, no invitations, no going out to buy dresses, no arbitrary screaming, nothing."

Arica nodded, "I haven't noticed anything ether. But we both know that as soon as the invitations come, all that and more will start."

"Like it dose whenever the two ogrelets get invited anywhere."

"And that means all the more work for us."

"Yup." I sighed, and wondered if I was actually going to be invited to this thing, and if I was, what the ogress would say. I really couldn't care less if I was forbidden to go, I would rather stay at the mansion and clean all the un-carpeted floor areas, as a matter of fact.

Little did I know that my attitude about this thing was going to change, eventually.

After about fifteen minutes of talking with Arica as we did out respective jobs, I thought I heard the unmistakable sound of the snap of a branch as someone stepped on it. I looked up, but there wasn't anyone in the yard besides me and Arica.

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

"Hear what?" Arica said absent mindedly, not taking her eyes off the garden she was moistening from the water in the bucket.

"Nothing I guess…" I muttered. I listened for a bit longer, then decided my ears were playing tricks on me and went back to scrubbing various bits of gunk off the grey stones.

When Arica was done her watering, she put the weeds she had collected into the now empty, but still wet bucket, and made her way inside. "I would stay," she explained, "but I think the ogress wants me to do something else."

"And since when do you comply with the ogress' demands without a fight?"

Arica thought, then shrugged. "Maybe I'm just tired." She said.

"Or, maybe you're going soft!" I gasped.

"You take that back!" Arica said, glaring at me, "I _am not _going soft!"

"That's what you say," I said cheerfully, "doesn't mean it's not true." Arica narrowed her eyes, and was about to say something when Karter came out.

"You two okay?" He asked. Me and Arica glared at each other for a half a second longer, them started laughing uncontrollably. "Okay," he said, "nothing out of the ordinary." He walked passed and started inspecting the hedges that surrounded the yard. Apparently he had been ordered to trim them, as he had a pair of huge scissors with him. As you've probably guessed, the house had no solid gardener. Out last one had quit after Cindy threw a shoe at him, for the heck of it as far as I could tell.

After she gained control of her limbs, Arica entered the house, still holding in bursts of laughter, and I started to scrub again.

"What was that about?" Karter asked.

"Nothing funny." I said simply, returning to my job. Karter nodded, he had learnt not to ask.

Karter and I continued with our work, talking about things that didn't really have anything to do with much, and were far from important. It had been a perfectly normal day.

That was about to change.

"Hold it a sec," Karter said quietly, "who's that?"

"Who?" I asked, coming up behind him to look over the hedge-fence. A man dressed in black was standing in the forest that was behind the ogress' yard.

He was staring right at us.

As soon as I met his eyes, the man turned and fled, leaving me and Karter to wonder who would be looking over a hedge-fence at two sixteen-year-old servants when they were doing nothing but what they were ordered, and who fled when they made eye-contact.

"That," I said, "was weird." Karter just nodded slowly. "Why did he run?"

"Did you make eye-contact?" Karter asked me.

"Well yeah, but if that was the reason he ran, why didn't he run before, when you saw him?"

"Because I didn't make contact for over a second, he was just too weird. He must not have noticed that I had seen him."

"I wonder what he was doing?" I wondered.

"Nothing good." Karter muttered. I silently agreed.

* * *

**A/N: Things are getting exiting! As to why I haven't been updating, between schoolwork, housework, and almost-overdue library books, I've had very little free time. But I will try as hard as I can to update sooner, promise. **


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7_

The rest of the day I wondered who on earth the strange man could have been. I kept coming up with insane theories, none of them more plausible then the next. And late in the afternoon there was a scream from the doorway.

"Mother! Mother! The invitations have arrived!" Ella's voice sounded from the entrance. I rolled my eyes. Now there would be no keeping Ella quiet.

"Bring them here!" The ogress called. There was the sound of Ella running down the hall. I stood where I was, listening to the muffled sounds of shrieking girls and a muttering mother.

Then Cindy said, quite loudly, "But mother, why is there an extra?"

I froze.

After a minute of rustling papers and lowered voices, the ogress yelled, sounding quite angry and rather annoyed. "Where is that insufferable girl?" I hurried to the sitting room.

"You called, mistress?" I said in a fakely sweet voice. The ogress glared.

"Yes," she said, her voice was dangerously calm, her thin lips pulled back into an unnatural smile, "do you anything about this?" She held up the last invitation.

"No mistress," I said innocently, "What is it?"

"It's an invitation to the prince's grand ball. Do you know who it's addressed to?" I shook my head, lying quickly and easily.

"It's addressed, my dear, to you." Her voice was as cold as ice. "Do you have any idea why?"

I shook my head, trying to look like one of the laundry maids when you tried to explain anything but house gossip to them. "Why would the prince invite me to a ball?"

"I was just thinking that." Ella muttered, but her mother shushed her.

"I think you know the reason." The ogress said, her face starting to contort ever so slightly into a scowl. "You're very good at playing dumb, but it won't fool me. How could you not be invited come to think of it, with your father being who he was. I knew something like this would happen eventually…" Her voice drifted off, and she started smiling again. "Well, you'll just have to come, wont you?"

"No mother, you wouldn't!" Ella cried, sounding shocked, "Why would she come? How could she? She doesn't even have anything suitable to wear!"

"Well, she'll have to get something suitable, won't she?" The mistress never took her eyes off me, and kept smiling in that unnerving way. "She'll have to buy all the things she needs for the ball, or else she wouldn't be able to come, would she? And of course she has to keep up with her regular chores…" Ella caught on and smiled, showing her yellow teeth that really should have been kept covered.

"Here is your invitation, my dear." The ogres said, handing me a piece of rectangular paper, "The ball is in a week's time. You should be ready by then." She smiled, and shooed me away. I turned and left the room. No doubt the ogress had mistaken me for one of those girls who would be sobbing all night if something like this had happened to them, but I really couldn't care les if I went or not. Actually, I preferred not.

I returned to the hall where I was scrubbing the floors, when the doorbell rang. I looked around, but no one rushed to open it, so I did myself. There was a tall, fair haired man standing on the steps, and when he noticed me he smiled.

"Why hello, young lady," He said. I wondered if he was being sarcastic, or if he really thought I was a lady. "I'm looking for someone I've been led to believe lives in this household, I wonder if you could help me?"

"Who are you?" I asked, sounding quite rude. I would really get into trouble if someone caught me talking to anyone outside the house, but I didn't really care. He looked a lot like one of those men who came to your door asking if you wanted to buy a watch or a bracelet or something. He had a small pointed beard that matched his hair colour, and was dressed in a white suit. He carried an official looking bag.

"Oh, excuse me for not introducing myself. My name is Timothy Getts, and I am here on behalf of-"

Before the man could explain what he was doing at our house, Ella pushed passed me and glared at the man. "What do you want?" She asked.

"Oh, um, I'm looking for someone, I was wondering if I could find someone to help me here…" The man, Getts, sounded taken aback at Ella's sudden appearance, but he pulled what looked like a drawing of a child, about six or seven years old, out of his bag. "I'm looking for this person, he would be about sixteen now…"

"Sorry," Ella said rudely, "there isn't anyone here that looks anything like that. You should go now." She started to close the door, but the man kept talking, trying to get her to listen to him for a moment longer.

"I'm sorry to intrude, but this is a really very important matter, and I would be most grateful if you would lend me your cooperation for but a mo-"

He was cut off as Ella slammed the door in his face.

"Honestly," She said as she pushed her way passed me, "you should know better then to open doors to strange people like that, who knows what you were thinking…"

I wasn't listening to her, I was standing frozen in the entrance way, trying to piece together what I had just seen. The picture that man Getts had shown Ella, I couldn't have mistaken the face on it anywhere. The artist hadn't really done a good job in my opinion, though I wouldn't really know, as I had only known the subject of the drawing for a few years, but in those few years I had grown about as familiar with his features as I was with my own face.

The drawing was of Karter.

* * *

**A/N: A bit of a short chapter there, and rather quickly paced. As you can probably tell, I'm anxious to get on with the story. I figured out the plot before I started writing, something I rarely do, but it means that for once I know where the story's going, thus I want to get there as quickly as possible. On that note, I'd like to remind you to please review, weather you liked it or not. My will to write, not to mention my sanity, depends on it! **


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8_

I think I stood in the entrance for, oh, at least ten minuets. That's when Arica came to find me.

"Where the heck have you been?" She said, shaking my shoulder, "Danie! Honestly, Karter and me have been looking all over for you! What have you been doing?"

"Uh, nothing…" I muttered.

"Well come on, we really need to be going, we don't want to be the ones who the ogress kept up all night because she found us just standing here!" Arica said, pulling my on my arm to make me come.

"Right…" I said absent mindedly. "Hey, have you had a chance to talk to Karter since this morning?"

"Um, no, why?"

"Cause I have to talk to the both of you." I said.

****

Five minutes later me, Arica and Karter were sitting on the floor of the wooden room that we normally reserved for eaves dropping on diner parties. We were only here because I had insisted on more privacy then the servants quarters had.

"So, what is it Danie?" Arica demanded, holding up the candle she had expertly snuck into the room. I never asked where she stole those things.

"Is this about this morning?" Karter asked.

"Why what…" Arica looked between me and Karter, looking exited.

"Well, sorta, but something else happened this afternoon I have to tell you guys about." I interrupted. I offhandedly wondered what Arica had thought Karter meant.

"Okay, but first tell me what the heck happened this morning." Arica demanded. I looked at Karter in the dim light, hoping he would explain.

"Well, this morning I was clipping the hedges…"

"We really need an other gardener…" Arica muttered.

"Beside the point." I said. Karter nodded and continued.

"Anyway, I looked up and there was this guy there who was dressed in black, but I didn't make eye contact for more then a second 'cause he freaked me out. I sorta directed Danie's attention to him, and he noticed her noticing him, and left." I nodded, making a mental note not to let Karter tell an exiting story ever again. I could have told it better then that.

"Okay, that's… odd to say the least." Arica commented, blinking.

"Yeah, well that's nothing compared to what happened to me this afternoon." I said. "I was scrubbing the hall floor, when someone came to the door, and I, sorta answered it."

"You answered the door?" Karter asked, "Why?"

"Why not? Besides, there was no one else there."

"Did you get into trouble?" Arica wondered.

"Not really, but that comes in later. Now, let me continue. So I answer the door, and there's this man there, and he asks me to help him find someone. So I asked who he was, which was when Ella came in. So he asks _her _if she can help him, and he showed her a picture of, um, well this is going to sound really weird, but it looked like it might be Karter when he was little…" I trailed off, because I just realized how unrealistic I sounded. Arica and Karter stared at me shocked for while, then Arica asked me what the man looked like, still sounding dazed.

"Oh um, like he was maybe a little older then the ogress, he was blonde, and had the smallest mustache I've ever seen, and carried a bag. Why?" In retrospect, that was a stupid question. Who wouldn't want to know what the creep who was looking for your brother looked like?

"What did he say his name was again?" Karter asked, after a barely perceptible glance between him and Arica.

"Um, I think it was, Wetts? No, Getts! That was it." An other hardly noticeable glance. "What?"

"Nothing." Karter said, "Just curious."

"Oh, okay." I muttered. I supposed that made sense, who wouldn't be curious about something like this? But I still thought they were acting weird, as if they knew something they weren't telling me.

Of course, they were. I was just being clueless.

So anyway, we talked about the situation for a while, and came to the conclusion that we would have to find out why these people were following us.

So basically we figured out that someone was stalking us and we needed to find out what the heck was so interesting about _us, _something Cindy could have figured out. Brilliance!

****

That night I was having trouble falling asleep, which was quite explainable what with all the weirdness that had been going on the past few days. I had allot to think about okay? After about three hours of lying awake but pretending to be asleep, I rolled onto my back and glared at the ceiling, hoping the answers would fall through the plaster or whatever the basement roof was made of. Although, if they did they would no doubt land on someone, as almost all the floor space had been taken up. I shook my head. Why did weird thoughts always jump on me at night?

Then out of no where the memory of that weird moment when Karter had brought me the bucket of clean water when I was cleaning the floor in the dining room the day before wormed its way into my head. I groaned. I thought I had repressed that.

I sighed, tried to think about something else, which made me think about that more, so I did what I did whenever I was little and couldn't sleep. I got up and made my way out of the crowded room. I slowly made my way up the stairs and out the back door. I guessed it was passed midnight. The full moon hung just above the trees of the forest behind the house. The sight of silver bathed tree tops has always calmed me. I took a deep breath. I just needed to think for a bit about all the stuff that was going on lately.

I sat on the grass and gazed at the moon, thinking. First about the predicament with stalkers, then about what Ella would make me do to get her ready for the ball, then I realized I was hungry. My mind wandered after that.

Just when I thought about the irony of the phrase 'the living dead,' a voice sounded behind me, making me jump.

"Hey." I turned to see Karter standing behind me. "Couldn't sleep ether, eh?"

"Nope." I sighed as he sat beside me. "There's been a lot of weird stuff going on lately, and I needed to think." He just nodded. I wrapped my arms around my legs and rested my chin on my knees. I stared at nothing for a while. It occurred to me that what I had been doing for the passed hour could only be loosely described as thinking, but I thought it would be irrelevant if I actually pointed that fact out.

Me and Karter sat for a while in friendly silence, each of us thinking. Well I assumed Karter was thinking, because he wasn't the kind of person who sits around doing nothing.

After a while a crow screeched in the distance. If I had been the superstitious type, I might have thought that was an omen of evil.

You know, I really should start being superstitious.

Suddenly I felt like someone was watching me and Karter. I turned my head around so fast it hurt my neck, but I couldn't see anyone.

"You okay?" Karter asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, just paranoid." I said.

"You have every right to be." A whispery voice said behind me. I felt the cold of steel on my neck, and froze in terror.


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9_

"Shall I get rid of her?" The voice said by my ear.

"Not yet." Another, more forceful voice said off to my left. How many were there? The man behind me snarled, a horrible sound, and withdrew the knife.

"Sad you can't kill the Kitten, D?" Said a distinctly female voice. The man behind me, D, spat on the ground.

"Why do you care, Bella?" He growled. I tried to run, but my legs wouldn't let me get up.

I looked over at Karter, to see he had been forced to his feet by two men holding him by his arms. There was another man behind him holding his mouth closed. He looked at me in a way that was obviously supposed to be reassuring, but that's a little hard when you're being held by three black-clad men.

The woman, Bella, crouched in front of me. "Why hello, Kitten," she said softly, "are we having trouble with our words?" I tried to inch away, but the man behind me grabbed my shoulders with an inescapable grip.

"She asked you a question, girl." He said in his horrible voice. The woman cocked her head like she was waiting for an answer, but my mouth wouldn't obey me, so all I could do was nod.

Bella shook her head. "My, you poor mute Kitten. You won't be able to beg me for mercy." She drew a knife and stroked my cheek with it. I had never been more afraid in my entire life.

"Stay away from her!" Karter shouted. I turned and saw he had struggled out of the grip of the man who had been holding her mouth closed. He was struggling against the other two, but they were stronger then he was. The man quickly regained his grip around Karter's mouth. He struggled harder.

"And here's our little prince." Bella said, standing up and walking over to where Karter fought the men. He glared at her, looking madder then I had ever seen him. "Don't you worry, we need you alive to get our payment." She said, walking slowly around behind him. "Your little girlfriend however, is another story." Karter continued to struggle against his captors, but they held him tight. "If it was up to me however," she said, coming around his other side, "I would kill you myself, never mind the payment." She came around in front of him again, and stared cleaning under her nails with her knife. "I would make it quick, of course. Or maybe not…" Karter closed his eyes, trying not to give her the satisfaction of seeing him as scared as I could tell he was. It wasn't working. She looked as pleased with herself as the cat when he dropped a dead mouse in front of Ella that time… Good day.

I was about to say something, but just as I took a breath, Karter's eyes snapped open and he shook his head just a tiny amount, so the men in black couldn't see. My mouth clamped shut.

"Bella!" The unseen man shouted, "Enough! We have our orders, and we are going to stick with them. We don't need any more of your intimidation tactics." Bella sneered at Karter, and stepped away, satisfied that she had done well. And she had.

"Now," the invisible voice said, "take the boy. We'll have to wait until after the prince's ball before we leave, or risk rising suspicion. But after that we deliver this boy to our employer, and we live like kings for the rest of our days!" The three men holding onto Karter cheered, but the man behind me had an issue to pick at.

"Do you think it wise to be discussing our plans in front of the girl?" He asked.

"Silence D!" The unseen man shouted. "Bella, do you think this girl is of any threat?"

Bella crouched in front of me again. I tried to seem a terrified, mute, idiotic maid who wouldn't be a threat to anyone. It wasn't that hard, as I already had terrified and mute down. Bella stared at me for over a minute, and then stood.

"This Kitten is no threat." She said, almost laughing, "We can leave her here and be sure she won't purr a word." At the last words she looked down on me and half-smiled. I almost glared at her with all my might, but that would have blown my cover of innocent, terrified laundry maid. And I didn't want to think about what would happen if they decided I was worth the trouble of getting rid of.

"Well then, let's get going before someone important shows up!" D said. The next few seconds passed in, well, a few seconds. But so much happened I had trouble keeping track of what was going on. D got up, forcing me to my feet, and for a second I was worried that he would take me with them, but then the ground was rising to meet me, and I only just managed to stop my head from smashing into the dirt. I looked up from where D had thrown me down.

The three men who held Karter dragged him away, him struggling the entire time. I could only watch as they started to disappear into the dark. As they clambered over the hedges, the man holding Karter's mouth closed slipped and fell, losing his grip. In that instant, Karter shouted, "Danielle! Danielle, I…" But the man stood up and regained his grip, and though Karter was shouting himself hoarse, I couldn't understand a word. I covered my mouth to stop myself from shouting back, and was surprised to feel my face wet.

I stood, looking for a sight of Karter and the black-clad men, tears streaming over my face and into my open mouth, but I couldn't see him anywhere. Without thinking of what would happen if Bella heard me, I screamed wordlessly, and dropped to the ground. I didn't know what to do, so I just sat there, willing everything to be a bad dream.


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10_

I must have fallen asleep out there, because Arica woke me early the next morning out in the backyard.

Um, well I suppose really it was incredibly obvious I fell asleep out in the yard, but it sounded cooler when I said it all mysteriously like that.

So anyway, I woke to Arica shaking my shoulder. She was kneeling next to me looking worried. "What are you doing out here?" She asked, "You better get inside before someone sees you and you get in trouble."

"I'm surprised at you; you could've come up with a more creative waking method." I muttered. For a moment it seemed as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and that it had been just a bad dream after all. But Arica's next comment proved me wrong.

"Do you know where Karter is?" She asked, "I can't find him anywhere."

"Oh no…" I whispered. And without explanation I ran to the hedges and leaped over them. I could hear Arica calling after me, but I kept running through the trees, watching for any evidence of Karter or his captors. I found nothing.

Right now you're no doubt thinking you're smarter then me, because you would be doing something more useful then just running, like looking for footprints, or making plans to break into the castle where they said they would be staying for a while or something. But let me ask you a question: What do you think your brain would be doing if you had just woken up, hardly had any sleep, been terrorized by a deranged woman, and had watched six or more black-clad men drag your one of your best friends away through a forest to be handed over to some unknown man to do who knows what? I'm thinking your brain would be doing anything but thinking logically.

I kept running until I tripped over my own feet and landed on my face, something I do often. I rose up on my hands and knees, wondering what I would do next. That was when Arica finally caught up with me and sank to her knees.

"What happened?" She asked quietly. Her face looked so worried, and the news I had to tell her was so horrible, I broke into tears.

I told Arica what had happened the night before, about being threatened with a knife twice, first by D and then Bella, about the unseen man who seemed to be in charge, and about how they dragged Karter away through the forest, him struggling and shouting the whole time. When I was done, Arica didn't cry, or stare at me, or just sit there, wishing it was all a lie. In other words, she didn't do any of the things I did. She looked shocked, or maybe it was appalled, for a moment, then she stood up with a determined look on her face and said, "Well, are we going to just sit here, or are we going to do something?"

"Like what?" I asked, getting to my feet, "What could we, two teenagers, do against at least five full grown men and a terror obsessed woman?"

"I don't know, maybe use there idiocy against them?" Arica said. "You said that they practically told you they'll be at the castle for a week till the ball."

"Yeah, but…"

"But, you have an invitation to the very ball they're talking about! And, if I'm not mistaken, that includes a chaperone, am not I correct?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked determined. I sighed. When Arica got her mind set on something, it was happening no matter what.

"Well, yeah, I guess." I said, thinking of what she was implying. "So we're going?"

"You're the noble, I'm your escort."

'Funny, last time I checked chaperones were supposed to be more responsible then there charges." Arica stuck her _tongue_out at me, and I smiled weakly. We were going to do this.

********

Me and Arica sat in the abandoned servants quarters that morning after it had been abandoned, flying treacherously close to the ogress wrath that we were skipping our duties. "So," Arica said, "how is this gonna work? I've been doing some calculations, and between us we don't have enough free time to even figure out how on earth we're going to afford a dress for one of us, not unless we wanna stay up all night and then have no energy for the rescue."

"Don't worry, I think I've got an idea." I said. "You know about my grandmothers, right?"

"The ones who roped your parents into marrying each other?"

"Yeah, those ones. Well they used to come over to see me like every week when I was younger, before the ogress. But if I remember right, I know their addresses, so we can send them a message that we need help getting ready for the ball. They love stuff like that, so they'll definitely come help."

"Yeah, but will they want to help if they know the whole story?" Arica asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know, but we need to write perfectly worded letters by tonight."

"Why tonight?" Arica asked. "It's not like your grandmothers live far away, right?" I shook my head. They lived fairly close. "Right, so we can just bribe one of the errand boys to deliver the letters. Why the deadline of tonight?"

"Because I don't want to feel like I'm doing nothing. I did that last night." I said simply.

"Right." Arica nodded sympathetically. "So how're we gonna do this by today?"

"I'm gonna put this stuff in my sleeping area and pull the curtains down. Whenever ether one of us has free time, we'll run down here and write a few lines we could use. Then, tonight, we'll go over our notes and compose the perfect letter. We can send it in the morning."

Arica agreed that that would probably work, so we left the room to work for the day. A few of the other servants asked me where Karter was, but mostly no one noticed. Every once in a while I ran down to my floor mat/bed thing, and jotted down a line or two. I noticed that Arica had written considerably more things written on the paper, meaning that either she wrote faster than me, or she didn't have the ogress, Cindy, and Ella telling her what to do almost immediately after she finished one job. The latter sounded more plausible.

Anyway, that night Arica and I wrote the letters in the privacy of my enclosed bed space. I should thank the ogress some day for putting up those curtains…

Never mind. One unmeant good deed will never mean more then a life time of evilness.

So, that night we went over the list of words, phrases, and short sentences meant to flatter and convince two old ladies, and wrote two letters on two pieces of paper that went something along these lines:

_Dear (insert grandmothers name here):_

_It's been such a long time! I have missed you, and your fabulous cooking. When I was little the highlight of my week was your visits! I've wanted to write to you for so long, but Victoria has prevented it. You must have heard of my father's untimely death, and learnt of Victoria's taking over of the house. I am putting up with her, but she is insufferable._

_Certainly you have heard of the ball that the prince is throwing in a week's time! I am so exited, but Victoria is making it almost impossible for me to go! She says that if I am to go I must ready myself, but I have no flair for picking out dresses or accessories, and am faced with no talent for applying my own makeup. This brings me to the main purpose for writing you. Of course I simply wanted to contact my dear old grandmother, but I also have a favor to ask. Would you, by any chance at all, be able to help me prepare for the ball? It would make me eternally grateful! Please contact me by sending a message back with the boy who delivered this letter. _

_Your ever loving granddaughter, _

_Danielle. _

I was quite pleased with the outcome. Arica praised my 'power over words,' but it was really nothing especially special. I only had to lie a little bit, after all.

Okay, so maybe I had to lie a lot, but dose it really matter?

Anyway, we worked 'till like, eleven, and by the time we were happy with the results and had both copies written all nice, we were both exhausted. So maybe you could have stayed up till three in the morning, but you don't work scrubbing floors and running errands all day, do you?

The next morning I gave the letters to a boy who worked in the house, with instructions to wait for a reply and a coin. He eagerly nodded and ran out the door. The poor kid had to have been less then ten years old.

Now the only thing I could do was wait for the boy to return with a reply.

* * *

**A/N: Why do I always end up updating late at night? Anyway... Wow, I just realized that this is the farthest into a story I've ever gotten. Yay! **


	11. Chapter 11

_Chaper 11_

Later that afternoon the boy came up to me while I was scrubbing the floor in one room or another. I wasn't even sure where I was. He handed me the replies from my grandmothers, along with a look that said 'why on earth are you writing to two old ladies that live in crazy big houses?' I didn't bother to answer. I put the letters in my apron pocket to read later with Arica.

That night was the earliest that Arica and I could read the letters. We sat on my bed/mat, the curtains pulled. I took the papers out of my pocket and started scanning them, looking for the important bits. The first one was from my father's mother, Grandma Fay. It basically said that she was delighted to hear from me, that I was good to put up with Victoria, and that she was exited herself for the ball, though she didn't plan to be there. The answer I was looking for came after that bit.

_Oh darling, _my grandmother wrote, _you poor dear! Victoria is only afraid that you will outshine her hideous daughters if she makes it more possible for you to get to the ball. And though I am sure that you aren't as hopeless as you say in the way of dresses, makeup and the like, I would love to come to your aid! I am sure we will be able to make you look magnificently beautiful, even more then you already are, even if that seems like an impossible feat! I shall arrive the day of the ball, so be expecting me!_

The letter continued to describe the dinner party my grandmother recently hosted, but I skipped that. I had read the paragraph with her answer to Arica, quietly so that no one else could hear. Arica was now carefully containing her excitement. As I scanned the remainder of the letter to see if anything else important would be mentioned, she was muttering to herself, "This is going to happen, it's actually going to happen…"

"Well that's one grandmother; let's see about the other one." I said, opening the other letter.

This one was from my mother's mother, Grandma Agatha. She had a more direct way of writing, so I only had to read my way through a greeting, a mention about how she had never really liked Victoria before reaching the point of the letter, as even she put it:

_Now for the main point of me writing this, or rather, you writing me. I would be happy to help you ready for the ball. I'm sure we can work around the schedule that Victoria gives you. I'll come the day of the ball. I can't wait to see you again!_

Arica had gripped my arm in the middle of my reading, and didn't let it go when I finished. "Is this seriously happening?" She whispered. I nodded. She closed her eyes and smiled, and in the split second before her eyes closed, I could have sworn that they had just a little moister in them. I had never seen her so worked up, but I suppose it _was _her brothers we were talking about.

After that the candle Arica had stolen spluttered out, and she moved from my bed mat and onto her own. I put the ratty curtain up again. That was twice something that the ogress did helped us. Creepy.

Mostly everyone in the room was asleep, just us and a few of the other girls were awake. Arica turned to me. "Danie," she said, and though I couldn't see her face in the dark, I could tell it would be creased with worry from the tone in her voice. "we are going to find him, right?"

"Of course we are." I assured myself as much as her. "And he'll be just fine when we do."

There was a pause, and then Arica told me something I never saw coming.

"He loves you, you know."

Now what was I supposed to say to that?

Just in the tone of her voice I could tell Arica didn't mean a simple brother/sister type of love, but an actual, serious, marriage type of love. It struck me completely off guard. I think I ended up just saying "Oh." Arica fell asleep then, or at least I assumed she did. And I just thought for a while.

Let's have some fun, shall we? It's time to break some expectations! When I found out Karter was in love with me, I didn't:

-Immediately fall in love with him.

-Feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

-Suddenly realize I had been in love with him for as long as I knew him.

I did however:

-Have to think about having someone being in love with me, as that had never happened before.

-Feel rather confused, shocked, and creeped out.

-Wonder why I hadn't noticed it before.

In hindsight, it was rather obvious that Karter had, um, fallen for me. Gosh that was a weird thing to say. If I am to be completely honest, (not a common event) little creepy moments like the one in the dining room had happened a couple times over the passed few months, and that's only when I'd started noticing. Pleh. Don't ever make me say that again.

Anyway… Let's get off this disturbing subject, shall we? Thank you.

* * *

**A/N: ... Well then. Never written something like this before, so I hope it turns out okay... And don't worry, it's not gonna get all mushy and fluffy and crap. If it did, I don't think I could live with myself... **

**I'm using a lot of ...'s lately, aren't I? **


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter 12_

The next few days went by in a haze, a haze of waiting, wondering, and anxious nail biting. Literally, in three days my nails were all but gone. My grandmothers wouldn't be too happy about that.

Arica and I hardly said two words for the rest of the week. A few 'yes mam's here and there, but other then that not much. I found myself at night thinking about things. Things like that man that came to the door and asked for Karter, why there was all of a sudden so much excitement around him, and the night he was taken. I hoped that I would never see any of those men again, especially that woman, Bella. I wouldn't find out until later how pointless _that_ was.

You know what I just thought? You're probably fed up with me ruining things for you like this. Well, if that's indeed how you're feeling, I have something to tell you.

Deal with it.

Now where was I? Oh yes, hazy days and depressing thoughts.

So as the length of the time till the ball got shorter, so did my nights, my nails, and Arica's rap sheet for trouble. She was being remarkably well behaved, because we couldn't risk any bad behavior. You never know what the Ogress is going to pull.

After that week, possibly the longest of my life, it was the day before the ball. The level of excitement in the house had been going up steadily as the ball got nearer, and by that night Cindy was positively squealing everything she said. It was like being trapped in a room with a tortured puppy.

"Hey, you." Ella said that night as I scrubbed the dinging room floor. She had been getting worse with the taunts and things of that nature for a while. One of her favorite things to do was try and make me jealous of her because she was going to the ball and I wasn't. It got rather annoying really.

"Don't you think the prince will dance with me?" She asked, sashaying across the room. I rolled my eyes. She didn't have enough rhythm to charm a snake. But I didn't tell her that.

"I'm sure he will." I said. What I didn't say was that he would probably dance with everyone.

"Aren't you upset you can't come?" She said, digging for a reaction.

"Not particularly." I said. "Besides, how do you know I'm not coming?" She just laughed and walked away. I couldn't care less.

That night had to be the longest ever. Arica and I hardly talked, and I hardly got any sleep. When I did finally fall asleep, I had horrible nightmares. Thankfully, I was unable to recall any details when I woke, just a general feeling of terror.

I must have been around six in the morning, but there were sounds of hurried footsteps and shouting coming from upstairs. I groaned and turned to look at Arica. Her face was pale.

"It's today." She whispered. I nodded. Before day's end, we were going to be dressed up by two old ladies, get shuffled into a room filled with excitable girls, find a friend, escape with our lives, (hopefully) and get back here, into this room, without being noticed. A challenging feat.

As Arica and I came to the main floor, the doorbell rang. I rushed to get it.

"Hello, Danielle!" The old woman at the door said as she scooped me into a bone-crunching hug.

"Grandma Fay!" I said, my voice muffled because she was pushing my face against her body. This had been the worst part of her visits when I was little to.

Grandma Fay was an, um, portly woman, who tended to be rather frivolous and silly at times. But she was caring, an made the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.

"Um, Dannie…" Arica's voice sounded urgent, and I tried to turn to see what she was warning me against, but the answer came in the form of the very snotty voice belonging to Mrs. Victoria Ogress.

"Um, hello." She said, "May I ask why you are clinging to the help as if she was pulling you out of a ditch?"

"I'm her grandmother, Victoria." Grandma Fay said, letting me go, "May _I _ask why you just referred to my granddaughter as 'the help?'"

"Oh!" The expression on Victoria's face was priceless. "Oh that's just a family joke, isn't it, er…"

"Danielle." I said, tying not to sound annoyed. I don't think it worked very well.

"Yes! Just a joke, you see." She grabbed me and pulled me to her side, as if to be 'motherly'. I tried not to gag from her perfume.

"Of course it was!" My grandma said. She didn't sound too convinced, but she decided to leave it.

"So," Victoria said warily, "why are you here?" It was obviously hard for her to be friendly, but my grandma smiled.

"Oh, I thought I'd just drop by to visit my favorite granddaughter." She said, winking at me.

"Oh." Victoria looked confused for a moment, then regained her composer and gave my grandmother a sickeningly bright smile. "Well, how wonderful!" She said. "I'll arrange a guest room to be made up for you immediately." She invited my grandma into the sitting room, and scowled when I followed, but couldn't exactly do anything about it. I was enjoying this.

Arica followed me, and when I sat on one of the dark red velvet couches, I waved her over. She sat next to me, despite the truly horrible look the Ogress gave her.

"What are you doing, girl?" Victoria practically snarled. "Don't you have some work to do somewhere?"

"Now now," Grandma Fay said, "is this your friend Danielle?" I nodded. "Then I'm sure we can make an exception, just for tonight." While talking, Grandma Fay kept her eyes trained on Victoria, as if daring her to argue. The Ogress said nothing, just smiled tightly and sat as far away as she could.

I wondered what would happen now, but just then the doorbell rang again. "Now who could that be?" Victoria wondered. The sound of voices from the doorway, then a kitchen girl with dirt on her nose came into the room and curtsied to Victoria.

"There's someone at the door, mam." She said.

"Straighten up girl!" Victoria said, a bit too harshly for my liking.

The girl stood and saw me and Arica sitting there. She gave us a curious look, then returned her eyes her mistress. "She is asking for Danielle. Should I tell her that she is unavailable?"

Victoria raised her eyebrows. "Well dear," She said to me, "you seen to be very popular today." Then she turned to the kitchen girl. "You may show her in." She said with a dismissive hand motion. The girl nodded and hurried off.

Then there was a shriek from upstairs. Someone pounded down the stairs, and burst into the sitting room, sobbing. At first I didn't recognize her, because she wore no face paint, she wore a housecoat instead of a dress, and her brown hair was falling around her shoulders. It took me a moment, but I recognized her as Ella.

"Mother!" She shouted, "All our servants are incompetent! I need a new girl, by _today!_"

That was when the kitchen girl cam into the room with my Grandma Agatha.

"Oh," she said, "should I not have come?"

"Grandma!" I said, jumping up to hug her.

"Hello, darling!" She said, hugging me back and apparently forgetting the crying girl in the corner, who had been joined by a girl of about fourteen, trying to get her to calm down so she could brush her hair. Ella ignored the poor girl.

Grandma Agatha was thinner then Grandma Fay, and was more sensible, but she still kept up with fashion and other things like that, even though she was what Ella would call 'to old to be social.'

"What is going on here?" She demanded, "Why is that, that _wench _hugging a guest?"

"Ella!" Victoria said, "Apologize to your stepsister!"

I wished I could remember Ella's expression for the rest of my life. It took all the will power I had not to crack up, she looked so surprised and dumbfounded. I kept my eyes off of Arica, because I knew that I couldn't stop myself from laughing if we looked at each other.

"Well." Ella said, "I'll just be going." She turned and flounced back to her room, closely followed by the girl.

"I'll go to," Victoria said, "I must make sure that proper rooms are being made up for the both of you, and calm down my daughter. I shall see you, ah, ladies later."

As Victoria turned and left, Arica sighed. "So," she said, "you two are Danie's grandmothers?"

"Yes." They said together.

"You two are the one's that are going to help us get ready for the ball tonight?"

"Yes." They said.

"Well then," I said, "We should probably get started."

And with that, the most hectic day ever began.

* * *

**A/N: You probably thought I gave up on this, didn't you? Nope, just horrible writers block. Plus I was incredibly busy with the holidays and all. Most people have more free time during the holidays, but I had less. I wonder why? **


End file.
